Electrical contact member



July 5, 1960 c. c. BARBER 2,944,240

ELECTRICAL CONTACT MEMBER Filed Aug. 3, 1956 FIG.

'IIIIIIIIII //v VEN TOR C. C. BA RBER A T TORNEV United States Patent Dfiice Patented July 5, 1960 2,944,240 ELECTRICAL CONTACT MEMBER Charles C. Barber, Freeport, N.Y., assignor to Bell Telephone Laboratories, Incorporated, New York, N.Y., a corporation of New York Filed Aug. 3, 1956, Ser. No. 601,990

1 Claim. (Cl. 33964) This invention relates to electrical contact members and, more particularly, to multiple connectors for connecting together a plurality of electrical circuits.

Connectors of the type embodying the present invention comprise mating plug and jack members. Devices of this type, as heretofore constructed, possess several defects and disadvantages which render them unsatisfactory for use in many instances, particularly where it is necessary to connect and disconnect the plug and jack members frequently. These disadvantages arise chiefly due to misalignment between the plug pins and the jack contacts, often causing a pin to butt against its associated'contact to bend or collapse it. Also, misaligned plugs and jacks may result in poor electrical connections therebetween.

Accordingly, it is a main object of the present invention to improve multiple electrical connectors.

Another object of this invention is to eliminate the possibility of damage while mating misaligned plug and jack members of a multiple connector.

A further object of this invention is to provide an improved connector construction which lends itself readfor embodiment in multiple assemblies, and which may be economically produced.

These and other objects of this invention are obtained in one illustrative embodiment thereof comprising mating jack and plug members. The jack member includes an insulating block having a plurality of cavities or orifices extending therethrough in each of which is floatingly mounted an electroconductive spring contact of the two-petal type. Each jack cavity has a rib member which extends along, and is an integral part of, one wall thereof.

Mounted on the jack member is a pin which is intended to engage with a hole on the plug member and which serves to guide the plug and jack together. Misalignment difiiculties in bringing the mating members to gether are eliminated by the guide pin and the cooperative interrelationship between the contacts and the rib members.

The ribs restrict the float of the bifurcated contact members and define their minimum separation. Each rib also locates the eifective pin receiving portion of a cavity off-center with respect to its asociated pin and restricts the freedom to rotate the plug member about the single guide pin while bringing the pins and contacts together into engagement. Further, the two-petal contacts are oriented to restrict pin movement to a direction approximately parallel to them. This orienta' tion prevents a contact pin from crushing a contact member as the plug and jack are rotated about the guide pin into alignment preceding their actual engagement.

While the ribs restrict the float of the contacts and define their minimum separation, they allow sufiicient contact movement to absorb the maximum misalignment between pins' and contacts expected from controlled manufacturing variations. Thus, in one illustrative embodiment of this invention, floating crush-proof selfaligning contacts are provided.

Each rib has a portion parallel to the guide pin and another portion displaced at an angle thereto. The latter portion is located toward the bottom of each cavity and is angled toward a rearwardly opening slot therein to serve as a means for piloting or tunneling the contact pieces into the cavities during their assembly with the insulating block.

Thus, it is a feature of this invention that a novel multiple connector design is provided having ribbed cavities and floatingly mounted contacts therein which in combination insure proper alignment between the contacts and their mating plug pins.

A further feature of ,this invention resides in the provision of a rib member which may be considered to have two parts. One part extends parallel to the guide pin, projects from a cavity wall, and helps to define the pin receiving portion of a cavity. The second rib portion is integrally related to the first part, forms an angle therewith, and extends toward a rearwardly opening slot in a cavity bottom.

A complete understanding of this invention and of these and other features thereof may be gained from consideration of the following detailed description and the accompanying drawing, in which:

Fig. 1 is a perspective view of jack and plug members of the type used in one specific illustrative embodiment of this invention; I

Fig. 2 is an enlarged side view of a portion of the jack and plug of Fig. 1, with parts thereof broken away to show more clearly the position of the contact and pin members;

Fig. 3 is a side view along the line 33 of the portion of the jack shown in Fig. 2; and

Fig. 4 is a sectional view along the line 44 of the portion of the jack shown in Fig. 2.

Referring now to the drawing, Fig. 1 shows mating jack and plug members, 10 and 30 respectively, which are detachably connectable. Both the jack body or block 11, and the plug body or block 12, are made of a material having good insulation properties, and possessing good mechanical srtength. The blocks are advantageously moulded, the plug pins 13 having the plug block 12 moulded about them to form a unitary blockpin structure.

Holes 14 and recesses 15 are provided on both the jack 10 and the plug 30 to facilitate securing them to a panel, a bracket, a chassis or any other mounting member without having the securing members interfere with the bringing of the jack and plug blocks together into intimate contact. The jack guide pin 16, mounted in the jack block 11, is designed to fit within a guide hole 17 in the plug body 30 to aid in directing the jack and plug together into precise registry.

The jack block 11 has a plurality of cavities 18 extending therethrough. While any number and arrangement of cavities may be provided, the illustrated embodiment of the invention shows a block having 20 cavities arranged in parallel rows, and a plug block having correspondingly arranged pins. Floatingly mounted in each cavity 18 is an electroconductive contact member 19 of the two-petal type.

Turning now to Fig. 2, there is shown in enlarged detail contacts 19 and pins 13 mounted, respectively, in portions of the jack and plug blocks of Fig. 1. The contacts 19 may advantageously be made of gold plated phosphor bronze. However, any resilient conductive material may be used for their manufacture. The rearwardly projecting portion 19-1 of each contact is twisted after being loaded into a cavity in order to s3.-

. 3 cure it therein in a floating manner. The dot-dash outline of the rearwardly projecting portion indicates its shape prior to being twisted, and shows an opening 19-2 therein which is intended to facilitate the connection of electrical conductors thereto.- The pin receiving portion of each contact includes two opposed and spaced apart petals ortaces with outwardly flared ends 19-4.

Each cavity 18 contains recessed portions 181, which, besides providing a mount for a contact 19, provide the flared contact ends 194 with space to expand freely without being distorted when a pin 13 is inserted there between.

The contact engaging end 131 of each pin 13 is shaped and chamfered-to facilitate its entrance into an associated contact and to prevent snagging thereon, and theopposi'te end of each pin advantageously contains grooves 13-2 to facilitate the securing of electrical conductors thereto. Each pin has an irregular outline between the portions 3+3 to insure rigid anchoring of the pins in the material of the plug block 12. i

Fig. 4 shows a rib member 25 which may be considered to have two portions. One portion 2ii-1 locates the effective pin receiving portion of a cavity oit-center with respect to its associated plug pin. This portion 204 also restricts the float of acont'act element with respect to the center line of a cavity and defines the minimum separation between petals while allowing sufficient contact movement to absorb the maximum rriis alignment between a pin and its contact. The portion 20-1 insures that a pin will not crush its associated contact petals under any circumstances. The second rib portion 2'02 is positioned at an angle to the first mentioned portion 20-1, and serves to pilot a contact element into a slot 21 during loading of the jack cavities'18.

The two-petal contacts, the cit-center location of the cavities, the orientation of the contacts, and the introduction "of a rib in each cavity result in a new and improved multiple connector in which butting or snagging between pins and contact petals, particularly during rotation of the plug block about the guide pin just prior to the engagement of the plug and jack members, is eliminated.

it is to be understood that the above described arrangement is but illustrative of the principles of this invention. Numerous other arrangements may be devised by those skilled in the art without departing from the spirit and scope of this invention.

What is claimed is: i

A jack body for fioatingly mounting a plurality of pin-receiving contact rnembers said jack body including a plurality of apertures extending therethroug-h, each: of said apertures having recessed portions at oneend thereof,'rib members formed integrally with said 'jack body and extending laterally into each of said apertures, each rib means including a first portion extending from the recessed portions end of an aperture in parallel relationship to the walls of said aperture to a firstzone means portion facilitates the mounting ofacontact memher by directing the inserted end thereof through said jack body, and whereby the pin-receiving portions of a mounted contact member extend into said recessed sortions and are freely expandable therein.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 

